Looking Back
by stormy.grace
Summary: Stefan reveals more details of his family history to Elena.


**This story takes place during Season 1, after Elena has discovered that Stefan is a vampire. Since Damon and Stefan have nephews, I've been wondering about the other Salvatore brother. I saw somewhere that there was mention of a maid's child. I'm not erasing that from the family history with this story, just expanding upon my own reasoning that there must be a third brother, and in this case a sister as well. Hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think. **

"Stefan, I'm curious about something." Elena said over the sound of the water running in the sink as her boyfriend rinsed the dinner dishes and handed them to her.

"What's that?" Stefan asked, handing her a glass.

She placed the glass in the top drawer of the dishwasher and pushed her long, dark brown hair over her shoulder. "I know you call Zach your uncle, but he's really your nephew, right?"

Stefan nodded. "A distant nephew, yes."

"So…" she tucked her hair behind her ear when it fell back into her face. "That means Damon had a kid?"

"Not that I know of." Stefan said.

"Then you have another brother."

"A half brother." Stefan explained. "Our father was married twice. His first wife, Odessa, died in childbirth."

Although Elena had never known these people, her heart broke a little for Stefan's father. She didn't know what it was like to lose a spouse, but she imagined it couldn't be much different that loosing a parent.

"How many other siblings do you have?" Elena asked, wishing Stefan would offer up something voluntarily for a change. She understood why he wasn't an open book, but he always made it so hard to get to know him.

Stefan handed her the last plate and turned the water off. "Damon and I have two older siblings. Anton and Penelope."

Both Greek names, Elena noted. Odessa was a Greek name too. "Your father's first wife was Greek?"

Stefan nodded. "Odessa Markos Salvatore."

Elena didn't asked why she hadn't named her son Markos or Giuseppe, like a lot of women would have in those days. It didn't really matter. All she wanted was to know more about Stefan, even if she had to pull teeth to get the information.

"What happened to them?"

"They both married and moved away when our father discovered vampires in Mystic Falls." Stefan explained. "They wanted to keep their families safe. They begged our father to leave with them, but he wouldn't. They tried to convince Damon and me as well, but neither of us was willing to leave."

"Did they know about what happened?" Elena asked. "About you and Damon?"

"They found out." Stefan said. "I'm not exactly sure how, but they did. And they wouldn't have anything to do with either of us after that."

Silence filled the room. Elena couldn't imagine how Stefan must have felt, knowing that his sibling didn't want anything to do with him, that they were afraid of him. She couldn't imagine her life without Jeremy.

After a while, Stefan spoke again. "I never saw Penelope again. I wrote her several letters, but she never answered. Anton wrote back, but it was as if he was writing to a distant business partner instead of his own brother. He kept me up to date on what was happening with his family and with Penelope's, but I was never allowed to visit.

"I saw him once, just before he died. He wanted me to forgive him for the way he had treated me."

"Did you?"

Stefan nodded. "I had no choice. Damon and I both went to his funeral, but no one would come near us. They hardly even looked at us."

"What happened?" Elena asked. "There didn't seem to be any animosity between you and Zach."

"A few months after the funeral I got a letter from my nephew." Stefan explained. "He was curious about his uncles and wanted to meet us. Damon never showed up, but I couldn't ignore the request. I went and stayed with them for a few weeks and we managed to patch things up over time."

Elena reached for Stefan's hand and rested her chin on his shoulder. "At least your story has a happy ending."

Stefan smiled, slipped his arms around her, and kissed her forehead. "And now it has you."


End file.
